MRM

Yes, MRM – Mobile Relationship Marketing.  That is a new acronym for me, but an important one.  Here is a rather thoughtful summation from a press release I received recently:

“Mobile marketing, while still in its early stages, represents a powerful and rapidly evolving medium of customer engagement,” said Donovan Neale-May, executive director of the CMO Council.  “The mobile phone is now the single most pervasive channel of communications and targeted market interaction in the world.  Users are rapidly migrating to smarter devices and new mobile social applications that offer even greater opportunities for building and sustaining customer relationships.  Our partnership with Planet Oi’ offers the CMO Council and leading brands a tremendous opportunity to demonstrate and benchmark the power of Mobile Relationship Marketing in both developed and emerging markets.”

Here’s the thing, I work with teenagers in a volunteer role and it has been eye-opening for me.  These teens look at email – email – as antiquated.  If you don’t text, you are dismissed.  This fact has also taught me to learn a new language – text.  It is a communication platform unto itself.

The reason I bring this up is because these are the future consumers and employees.  Their cell phone is their electronic connection point.  Mobile marketing is certainly the next major shift in messaging that we will see.  In fact, it is underway now.

Nasty Solar Storms

The sun follows an 11 year pattern of activity/(relative) dormancy.  You may not care except for this point – the sun is starting an active cycle as explained in this Fast Company article.

The sun is about to get a lot more active, which could have ill effects on Earth. So to prepare, top sun scientists met Tuesday to discuss the best ways to protect Earth’s satellites and other vital systems from the coming solar storms.

Solar storms occur when sunspots on our star erupt and spew out flumes of charged particles that can damage power systems. The sun’s activity typically follows an 11-year cycle, and it looks to be coming out of a slump and gearing up for an active period.

…

People of the 21st century rely on high-tech systems for the basics of daily life. But smart power grids, GPS navigation, air travel, financial services and emergency radio communications can all be knocked out by intense solar activity.

This may put a damper on the new iPhone…and all other cell phones for that matter.

4G Means Speed

The latest cell phone speed craze is 4G which is available only from Sprint right now.  However, all carriers will be rolling out their 4G networks over the next year or so.  This article from Inc.com provides an in-depth description of 4G and why it matters.  It basically comes down to the speed:

“If I’m getting mail from my server, with 4G it takes micro-seconds. With 3G, it could take 5 to 10 seconds to download the same email,” Abramson says. In general, he adds, though service providers may claim faster speeds, most 3G transmissions are in the 1 megabyte per second range. “With 4G, I’m getting speeds that are three to four times faster, he reports.

As some people have migrated away from land lines for their telephone, some companies will migrate away from a land-based Internet connection and switch to a 4G network.

“It can replace broadband for a very small shop,” Ganguly says. For some small businesses it might make sense to have every laptop enabled with 4G, or to use a card that broadcasts wireless Internet to up to five devices, such as the MiFi or Overdrive, he adds.

I am still stuck on 3G which has mediocre speeds.  4G does seem like it will be a real game changer and well worth considering an upgrade.